My mum and I had a wonderful time. She enjoyed the Scottish dance competitions, The Old Scottish Country dancing, the Harp musician and the Scottish food. I had an absolute blast spending time with my friend and her friends whilst watching 2 Scottish bands perform with bagpipes, and wind instruments, etc. I also had the chance to watch my friend's hubby in the Highland games at the Annual Scottish Fest in the OC. Loved it! I will be back there in 2026. read more

"If it's not Scottish, it's crap!" Gold stars to you fellow oldies that remember that line. Anyhow, went to ScotsFest last year and had a good time. The weather was perfect, it was right on the water, and there were tons of muscular athletes performing feats of strength in kilts. What's not to love? Okay, there were a few things. The restroom situation wasn't ideal, as the lines for the restrooms in the port o potties and the QM were crazy crowded. Also, be sure to stash some TP in your purse in case there isn't a square to spare. In addition, QM security will reroute you all over the place when all you're trying to do is use the bathroom. On a positive note, we all had a blast. The VIP tickets were well worth the price, as they ensured the delivery of some great cocktails, shaded seating areas, and prime viewing of the oh-so-muscular athletes. We all stared in awe of those massive thighs and calves. Hubba hubba! The parade was kick ass as well. The food was standard festival food: Burgers, sausages, etc and the crafts section by the QM was good for a browse. Overall, decent place to spend an afternoon, grab some drinks, and revisit the QM. Sláinte! read more

Besides the parking issue I had here (we were supposed to receive complimentary parking but it appears only some staff knew about this... communication among the staff members need to be better), this was an interesting festival. The entertainment that was provided by this festival was pretty cool. We really we enjoyed the sheepherder's glen and the bird (falcon and hawk) show. The food was interesting, too. It was my first time trying the meat pie and the Scottish eggs. The Scottish eggs reminded me of the McDonald breakfast (the sausage egg muffin to be exact) and the meat pie was as it is described. Lastly, having access to walk around the Queen Mary was pretty cool, too, since I have never been on the Queen Mary. Overall, the experience was pretty cool since I had complimentary tickets. read more

ScotsFestival - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

Parking as others shared is terrible and no signs. The option is go park downtown and take the bus, ridiculous. Super disappointed with the Queen Mary and the organizers of the event, clearly they don't care. read more

ScotsFestival - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

This was my first Scottish festival. Fun. Lots of vendors. Beer garden. Whiskey tasting. Celtic dancing. I would have enjoyed it more if getting to the festival would have been easier. Bumper to bumper parking. Poorly organized. No water fountains and precious little shade to relax in I had fun but will probably choose another festival next time. read more

ScotsFestival - Fun top I bought here. - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

We visited the queen mary this weekend not realizing the Scottish festival was happening. It was a great surprise. Folks were so kind & welcoming. A much welcomed added treat. The boys loved the entire visit. read more

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Yikes! $15 for parking and $22 for entrance but I would say it was money worth spending If that's the only way to get you into the festival. It allows you access onto the Queen Mary as many of the Scottish fair events are held on board. Scottish Dance competitions were held in the Queen saloon on the ship but get there early if you want to watch it. They were done before 1pm even though the pamphlet listed the event from 9-6. A bagpiper accompanies their dance routines but he plays the same tune over and over again for each group of girls so brace yourself for repetition. I loved watching the little ones dance. Their traditional white costumes with their hair in tiny buns were charming and watching those little feet flit in the air with buff little muscular calves shows how hard they had worked at their craft. Down the hall they had a showcase of older Scottish folk dancers. It was interesting but I liked watching the more skilled younger dancers. The time and training of the younger dancers gave more polish to the performances. On board there were also corners where solo bagpipers serenaded you, and at the bottom of the ship they hosted the dart competition. I wandered in at 10 am n the place was packed. Outside the have the Highland Games which showcase the brute strength of the Scottish men. I have never been around more manly men doing such manly things and yet they were all in skirts(kilts)! It was awesome! Much respect to those guys. They were throwing heavy object over beams to see who could throw it the highest and tossing them on the field to see who could throw them the farthest. I don't imagine the Scottish people to be very dainty. The parade was small but nice. There is nothing like hearing Amazing Grace played on bagpipes in honor of our police force especially when they pay tribute to the fallen. It will choke you up and bring a tear to your eye. They had a demonstration of the Gatling gun which provided lots of smoke and noise and was quite thrilling. The food offerings were a bit disappointing. Wish they had more traditional fare. Crepes, pizza and sausage hmmm not so Scottish. They did have meat pies and fish and chips but that was one booth with a very long line. A good way to spend your hard earned money if you like culture, learning about new things and being around manly men in skirts. I love all the testosterone! Note: I wished the website had a better itinerary of events so it was easier to plan your day out in advance. So much going on and I didn't want to miss anything. read more

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"They can take away our land, but they can't take away our freedom!" - William Wallace or the crazy Mel Gibson, depending on your knowledge of history. The Queen Mary holds an annual two-day Scottish Festival every President's Day weekend. The event is full of booths, food, ale, whiskey tasting, music, clan societies, Scottish Games and men in kilts. As a Scotsmen myself, I was excited to attend this event. We took the rug rats and it is debatable as to whether that was a good idea. While the kids enjoyed the music, costumes and begging for souvenirs, their enthusiasm only lasted about 90 minutes. I, on the other hand, would have loved to have been able to linger around and explore everything, it just simply wasn't in the cards with the kids. They do have a small kiddie play section, but the prices for the slides and bounce houses were ridiculously high. We bought our tickets via Groupon for $16 per, which is a decent discount off the gate price. I am still not really sure what my $16 got me, as everything once inside was expensive too. And parking? Ekes! $15! So, it felt slightly like a fleecing. We did all enjoy watching the parade of marching bands and the traditional Scottish games competition they had going on for the crowd. If you are Scottish or want to pretend to be and can leave the kids at home, this could be a fun outting. With rug rats, there just isn't enough to keep their attention for long and they will be driving you bonkers in no time! Next year, I am going back in a kilt and with NO KIDS!!! read more

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I have been to this event for the last several years. It's starting to get a bit over priced and a bit comercial in my opinion. I come though because I do enjoy the games and cant resist a handsome man in a kilt! Parking can get crazy but its a fun event overall if you have never been. Later in the evening the food, whisky tastings and the bands that play our quite good as well. read more

ScotsFestival - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

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This was a good time, a lot to see, a lot to do, and a lot to eat and drink! Make sure if you're interested in doing the Whiskey tasting you book online and buy your ticket. It sells out really fast! read more

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This review has been moved from the Queen Mary page at the request of the Queen Mary as they now have a Scots Fest page. It is an update to my 2012 review and is about the 2013 Scots Fest. After 2012's debacle, I was hesitant to go to them again this year (2013). But I'm happy to update my review with much-improved comments on a much-improved experience! BETTER!: Seems they brought all the games up close to the ship. Much less walking to see them even though there still is quite a bit of walking if you want to see everything in the festival! STILL GOOD: All the vendors in one place in a parking lot or right in front of the QM. This made it easier to make sure we saw them all. Seemed as if the number of participating vendors has decreased? Not sure. STILL GOOD: All the clan booths were outside again and this is good because they were with everyone else which made them easy to get to. Not sure, but have the number of participating clans gone down some? BETTER!: The dancing and piping competitions were held on the ship. I believe the performing commercial bands were also located there. YAY! It gets us back onto the ship! BETTER!: New kids area close to the entrance. It's still a little slim in activities and such for the kids, but they're just getting started, and moving in the right direction! Thank goodness they did away with that awful, dirty QM slide! DIFFERENT AND NOT SO GOOD: Main stage and parade route moved/altered again. I've mixed feelings about what they did with the main stage. They set bleachers up for that area, but nothing they did from that stage was directed to the bleachers. They faced (and addressed) an area that was not set up at all to allow people to sit and watch. (part of the parade route) They did the same thing for the Address to the Haggis. People seated were all ready to take pics, but couldn't because the ceremony was held on the other side of the fence and facing nobody in particular. I can understand they want to address as many spectators as possible, but perhaps it would behoove them to set the bleachers up accordingly. BETTER, BETTER, BETTER!!!: They added a traditional Scottish food tent and had an address to the haggis ceremony this year! YAY!!! And, the portions were great! On the not-so-good side, I don't know how the Ventura games manage it, but they have two long lines to their one Scot food tent, and they manage to move people along very well. I stood in line WAY TOO LONG at the QM Scot food tent and missed a lot of scheduled things because of it. Actually, all of the lines I had to stand in took an inordinate amount of time. Hopefully that will improve next year! NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: Not sure why they did this, but they expanded the athletics field into what used to be the normal parade route, thus shaving space off the parade route which forced the bands to have to squish in as they passed by because people were now standing IN the path and not off to the sides as usual. Also, they took out the benches we used to sit at to observe the athletics. My suggestion is to widen the route back to where it was, and it would be nice to have the benches back. Another set of bleachers would be nice, especially on the end of the athletics field directly across from the main stage if they expect to keep the main stage as they did it this year. Overall, it was a MUCH better experience compared to 2012. It seemed better organized, and with a few tweaks here and there, I can see this becoming a stellar event! Thanks for the improvements, QM! read more

3 & 3/4 Stars for the Scots Festival We got Discount Tickets for this Event on Goldstar. The Parking here as others have complained can be a Nightmare. It's best to go here at off times otherwise the parking lot is full & they end up busing you in. They need to address & fix this Parking issue. Luckily we went on Sunday & were pulling in just as it started to Drizzle & the skies were all grey. It looked like the day was going to be a total wash. A lot of people were leaving. I pulled in & got a great space. It was $20 for Parking here. Luckily after about 15 minutes or so the Drizzle stopped & off came everyone's rain jackets & the sun was out once again. It turned into a beautiful day. We Lucked Out! They had all the Scottish marching bands playing in their traditional kilts. They had rows of merchandise for sale. There was a cooking class, souvenirs & traditional Scottish foods. The highlight of the desserts was The Brown's Toffee. They didn't have any samples so I tried a small bag because it looked so good. The Brown's Toffee is DELICIOUS. They do a lot of fairs, have an online store & ship across the country & have a physical store in Fiddletown CA. The Classic Caber Toss was fun to watch. The sheep were beautiful as well as the owl demonstration. It was great to see all the colorful costumes of the festival participants. A lots of the crowd dressed up as well. The Man on Stilts with the tiniest of shoes was great to tell us the weather conditions from up there. LOL! Of course the Queen Mary is always beautiful. It used to be, you had to have mega bucks & be really rich to have the Good Life, not anymore. The Game has changed. You've been Upgraded. Now You Can Live Like a King on a Limited Budget! read more

ScotsFestival - Goldstar has Discount Tickets to this all weekend long event @ The Queen Mary - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

It's hard to believe that this is an annual thing... the organizers are rude, confused and unprepared amateurs. When the parking is full, they just wave everyone through TO THE EXITwithout telling anyone where to go. No signs, no info on the website. All of Their food stands have 30 min lines, and they are CASH ONLY. It's the second decade of the 21st Century! Absolute amateurs. For the price they are charging, you would expect better. read more

The Queen Mary is an amazing place to visit with an amazing history. Have been multiple years for the Scottish Festival and usually a nice experience, however, this visit left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The parking attendants (3) were directing traffic with out any posted signs only to find ourselves back out of the lot. When returning to come back in the attendant said the parking lot was full and we would have to park downtown and take a bus in. No signs were posted. Had we not already purchased tickets online, we would have turned back and gone home. Don't ruin a fun event because lack of signage or poor attendants that take the brunt of poor management decisions. read more

Terrible rip off! $36 to hang around looking at a few market stalls. The entertainment was a bit lacking and the parking arrangements were insane - no signs, no information, just waved through and back onto the freeway! Had to circle around again and line up again(!) just to finally find out that I would have to drive downtown to find parking and then catch a bus back to the venue...took forever. The only reason I got on with it was I'd foolishly pre-paid for tickets...do not plan on a return visit! (Quite a good scotch egg though). read more

I REALLY wanted to like the Scots Festival more, but I'm afraid I cannot. The Highland Games, dancing, bands, and Scottish wear are all fun and interesting, but that's where the enjoyment ends. Parking was a fiasco and I think we spent the same amount of time getting to and from parking, than we did actually enjoying the festival. I was fully planning on enjoying a fun meal there, but security was unwavering when it came to bringing food and drink inside, so on principle, we refrained from eating at the vendors inside. And speaking of the vendors...they all seem good, but for over $100 to get a family of 4 in so we can BUY more stuff, I don't feel it's worth it. I also want to point out that the people working there that we encountered didn't know what was going on. Parking and shuttle signage was poor and the people that worked there gave us incorrect information and directions several times. I would like to say I won't go back, but there is a small possibility that my kids will want to go back next year-we'll see. If the parking and strict food/drink policy were improved, I'd give this 3 stars. read more

PARKING is plentiful in the Pike area (Aquarium) and there is a FREE Passport bus that takes you over the bridge and to the Queen Mary. http://www.lbtransit.com Scottish Culture is not particularly prominent in Southern California, and this is a good cultural experience for kids, not to mention you can also explore the Queen Mary (built in Scotland.) The alcohol served on the main grounds were plain choices of Domestic (American) beers, Vodka, etc., but the separate beer tasting for $15 was well worth it. I imagine the $20 charge for Whiskey tasting would be as well. This is probably not an "every year" event, and I did not expect something as large and extravagant as The Renaissance Fair, but it was overall a good experience for the $22 entry fee. Probably worth it for a family where the kid's tickets are even less. (CASH ONLY for many food vendors.) Cheers, read more

DON'T GO TO THIS FIASCO! The staff running the event were incompetent jerks in so many ways. First, the parking was a mess. When my friend arrived at the Queen Mary lot the attendant took her $20 and, when they finally told her there was no more parking, would not refund her money. She was told there was parking "next door at the courthouse." But, the courthouse was about 30 minutes away across the bay in downtown Long Beach. It took her about 40 minutes with the traffic. They let the rest of us into the lot without telling us there was no parking. I had to ask someone. When I got to the overflow garage the attendant ignored me when I tried to ask the cost (he was busy on his cellphone) and then yelled at me and another lady because we walked the wrong way. The girl at the ticket booth tried to charge me $36 instead of $30 (but, I paid in plastic not cash, so she couldn't). There weren't enough port-a-potties and when the drum majorettes were competing staff wouldn't let people use half of them (so they wouldn't walk in the way). Then this jerk in a wheelchair and his buddy were smoking on the elevator. When I asked a security guard to remind them not to, the security guards ignored me. Then the wheelchair jerk's buddy deliberately ran over my foot. I complained to security and they ignored me until the wheelchair jerk and his buddy called them. Apparently the rent-a-cops knew the jerks and told them they were fine and threatened to kick me out of the festival. The security creeps refused to identify themselves and did not have any name tags. The female security guard at the exit had no idea where the shuttle was supposed to pick us up. I figured it out myself, though. And the shuttle driver was no help directing me back to the correct garage. I went to this festival full of anticipation and in a great mood. I left angry and hating everyone, not because of the food, entertainment or vendors, but because of the Queen Mary's horrible staff. read more

The Scots Festival and International Highland Games XXIII held court at The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. A foggy morning laid upon the Long Beach Harbor setting the scene as in Scotland. Near the entrance a Scottish camp was set up with merry men and women reenacting Scottish life in the early 17th century. In another section, the pipe bands from around the region gathered together to show their best like: House of Scotland Pipe Band from San Diego, Phoenix Pipe Band from Phoenix, AZ, and local Long Beach Pipe Band. They provided great constant background music for the festival from practice to marching procession. A ton of shopping opportunities were available from kilts, accessories, baked goods, collectables, family history surnames, jewelry, and more. Wolf Den Ring Stamping, Blandford Imports, McClaren's, Utilikilts, The Welsh Baker were among the many purveyors. You could also hone your archery skills with Hi-Tech Archery or sign up for the darts competition. In the center of the festival was the International Highland Games XXIII, where competitors display their disciplines of field athletics. A number of events were going on at the same time, stone put (similar to shot put), Scottish hammer throw, weight over the bar, and sheaf toss. It's amazing the amount of strength and strategy that go into each discipline. There was also a Wee Athletics area where children can learn about the games like caber toss, stone putting, and archery. Plus, they could have fun in the bounce house and just run off some energy before lunch. What is a Scot Festival without fine drinks? A tavern for beers and barrel room for whiskey and scotch tasting were available. The VIP Lounge also had a bar with good selection of beers and whiskeys. Herding dog trials are a secondary event to the International Highland Games where border collies show the crowd their herding skills. It is amazing to watch how precise they can be and how seriously they take their job. There were a lot of different choices for lunch. The author was on a mission to get some haggis. She tried it the last time and loved it. The Scottish Pie Shop is family owned and operated from Albuquerque, NM serving some of the finest Scottish fare. Haggis & Mash is a spiced lamb and beef haggis with mash (mashed potatoes) topped with their secret recipe Guinness gravy, bacon fried cabbage and onions, and homemade shortbread cookies. If you love organ meats like liver, kidneys, and the like, you'll love haggis. This particular haggis had a great texture and a very livery flavor. It was also served without the sheep's stomach on the exterior which was a little different. This is the best tasting haggis ever! The mash was fluffy, but the gravy made it over the top delicious. It had a rich flavor from the Guinness and beef base. The bacon fried cabbage and onions were amazing! It works well with the haggis adding a crunch, salty, smoky flavor to the mix. The shortbread cookies tasted like homemade with buttery flavor and were just sweet enough. Rating 5/5 Steak Bridie (pronounced "Bride-ee") Meal is a steak bridie made with slivers of USDA Choice Angus steak and sliced onions simmered in a savory beef Scottish sauce then is encased in a crust (like a hand pie). It is served with mash topped with their secret recipe Guinness gravy and bacon fried cabbage and onions. The crust was light and flaky, but a little dry. Maybe a touch of that secret gravy on top or served on the side for dipping would help. The seasoned steak was tender and juicy. The onions gave it a zingy sweetness. This meal paired well with a pint of New Castle. Rating: 4/5 The VIP Lounge was nice providing some shade as the sun broke through the morning fog and shone brightly. It was great to have tables to eat and grab some beer for leisurely lunch while listening to the pipe bands marching around the festival. It was a lovely ending to a wonderful day. read more

Parking nightmare. We bought tickets online ahead of time, but were unable to use them because we spent an hour trying to park before giving up and going home. When we arrived at the Queen Mary parking lot, things were looking fine. We waited in line for a few minutes as the cars in front of us slowly inched forward and passed through the parking gates. Once we got through the gate, things got weird. All the traffic entering the parking lot was being routed *through* the parking lot towards the exit gates. We just had to go with it. Once we reached the attendant at the exit gate, we were handed a printout from MapQuest (is that still a thing?) showing the route to the overflow parking lot. Well, the route was about 1.5 miles long, going over the Queensway Bridge and deep into downtown Long Beach. Still, we went with it. What we then encountered was a line of cars stretching from Shoreline Drive all the way to the middle of the Queensway Bridge - about a half mile of traffic. And the line wasn't moving. At all. We sat in the non-moving line for a good ten minutes before bailing from the line and looking for another route to the parking lot. We managed to take the long way around via Ocean Blvd to get to the back of the parking structure, only to find that the parking lot was closed (full?). There was total gridlock at the intersection of Queensway and Shoreline, shutting down a major thoroughfare in downtown Long Beach. Many other nearby streets were also jammed with cars trying to get to the parking structure, which wasn't even letting cars in. We witnessed many dangerous traffic situations as people blocked intersections and frustrated drivers couldn't find any way out of the jam. After being caught in the chaos for another 20 minutes, we finally managed to escape Long Beach and went home. I have been to many events in cities all around the country, but I have never experienced such a grossly mismanaged parking situation as I did at ScotsFestival in Long Beach. The organizers should be ashamed. I'll do the Queen Mary a favor and post their canned response for them... "Thank you for the feedback. We advise all of our guests to arrive early to avoid the hassle of parking, we sent out a Know Before you Go email to all festival purchasers, posted on our website and social media, encouraging guests to use public transportation, advised them of our offsite parking. We have hosted this event for 24 years and every year we fill up our lots as parking is limited at the port. We do the best we can to communicate this to our guests because parking can be tough." Here's something you should "know before you go"... just stay home and don't even bother. read more

Had a great time! Pleasantly surprised , so great to be in the shadow of the QM !! We enjoyed the food and the people .... bought several things including a nice sweatshirt and family crest printout, and family crest pins..... Had great drinks at the observation deck and ate at Sir Winstons..... a really great day. Got our tickets on Groupon for 10 dollars each - The only thing I would change , is to have the food vendors be part of the Scots event and not outsiders in plain clothes .... That would be so much more enjoyable..... Great Job!! Weather was amazing too read more

ScotsFestival - Festivals Near Me - Long Beach, California

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My wife and I herd about this event from the radio. Both of us being of Scottish decent grabbed are bottles of 18 year old single malt scotch and booked a room at the Queen Mary And headed out to the event. I put my kilt on and my scorn and listened to bag pipes until the sun went down. The highland games were really fun to watch. They had along wooden tree trunk witch they threw for distance. And large stones that they also threw for distance. The one thing I was bummed about was that there was no HAGUS. And the scotch tasting was sold out,but my wife and I did are own private scotch tasting. If you want to do the scotch tasting book ahead of time. The price was 16 $ per ticket and 15 $ for parking. read more

Funny how things work out sometimes. I've been pouting about not going to the symphony in which a small amount of bagpipes would be played. (Yes, people can have a battle over bagpipes.) Lo and behold, it's ScotsFestival at the Queen Mary on the same weekend we were going to the brunch on the Queen Mary. While not really participating in the events, we were looking for entrance to the ship and wandering enough for me haggis heart to be filled with the gorgeous wails of the pipes, the drumming and the occasional cannon blast. For some reason, the ship's horn blew yet not a single man's kilt reacted. Ah, a multitude of men in skirts, how charming. Standing on ship's deck, arms akimbo, and scanning the crowd for William Wallace, it was. a joyful noise. Had I been able to see more of the animals, the falcon show was starting soon, I'd have been singing How Are Things In Gloccamora read more

Queen of cluster f--ks! Wait an hour in your car just to be told there is no parking, sent to downtown LB to park just to take a tram back again thru an hour of parking-traffic. 100s of people went home without getting in and lost their prepaid ticket money. The Queen Mary is making bank on people who can't even get in. Royal ripoff! Go to any other Scottish Festival... Costa Mesa, San Diego, Ventura, Bakersfield, Las Vegas. read more

What an excellent day. Brought my 6yr old, loved the sheep dog demonstrations, music and who can beat haggis from a food cart? Went to look up my family name in the registers of the Campbell Clan, found out my grandfather was wrong (or lied just to get a better tartan...) Everyone went way out of their way to help us discover that we're actually MacGregors. Only downside was the beer tasting, next year, I'll skip the ticket and just have a pint from the booth. read more

Worst F-ING experience ever!!!! Charging people $20 to get into the parking lot with absolutely no parking at all Exited the lot five times and re-entered in hopes to find parking after we were charged the $20! Worst event, worst venue, worst everything ever!!!!!! Tried to get a peek into the actual venue itself... Jam packed with thousands of people! So completely over crowded! You'll be spending your entire day in line for a freaking hotdog!!!!!! Worst worst worst thing ever! Don't spend any of your money on this shit event!!!!!!! read more

Really the worst organized parking I have ever seen. And I grew up in LA, so I've seen quite a lot of bad parking. This one actually gets worse every year. We've been coming to this event almost every year for well over a decade. And every year you have to get past the rage at the parking fiasco to decide if you even want to go in. Get it together Queen Mary Scottish festival. This isn't rocket science... read more

Last time, awful One hour in the parking line, then diverted to parking across the bay. A bus picked us up 45 min. later then back in the parking line with the rest of the cars. Two hours later make it in and the venue which has been made smaller, lots of fenced off areas. Waited twice in the food line, 30 minutes each and no food. No wait for beer, but to many people and not enough food vendors. The worst was no bus to take us back across the bay, what happened? the poor familys with small children and the elderly, how did they get back to their cars? never again, Dean Johnson read more

Cannot afford a trip to Scotland? But, want a glimpse into their culture, foods, Highland athletics and dancing to Lowlands music and cuisine, then look no further. Go visit Queen Mary's ScotsFestival & International Highland Games XXI in Long At this festival you can visit/learn about different Scottish clans. More info: http://www.queenmary.com/events/scotsfestival/ Pro-tip: Take the free shuttle from Long Beach and save on parking cost. They offered a school bus shuttle- but I am not familiar with its route/stops. But, be advised, depending on the event, the lanes to get into Queen Mary is terrible. Worse than the 405. I had times when it took almost an hour to get over the bridge and into Queen Mary. There was long lines for some of the food vendors. And, the beer garden stopped serving beer before I was able to use my drink tickets ( since I was too busy walking around taking pictures - I didn't know that there was a cut off time.) VIP tickets which included the following: - ScotsFest General Admission - Rock Your Kilt Concert Entry (two stages of live music) - Access to VIP Shaded Bar (place to rest your weary feet on a nice couch) - Souvenir Mug 'O Beer (one free drink of beer) I wished the website listed the times for the events to make planning easier. I took many pictures as I watched the numerous competitions archery - additional fee darts - fee to enter the tournament Athletics Arena contained these highland games - caber toss, sheaf throw, hammer throw, weights for distance, weight over bar Grand Salon had highland dancing. Heritage hall had Clan's hall and Dart den. Promenade deck contained Queen and Royal Salon where Rock Yer Kilt bands rocked. Overall, I had a great time. Too chicken to try the haggis. I would recommend to try at least once. Thanks @YelpOC, Ryan, and Queen Mary for hooking me up with awesome tickets to this event. read more

Love the fest and will go every time. That being said, the Queen Mary does a poor job of running the show. Not enough staff, signage is poor. We even rented the cabanas for the "rock concert" and what a waste of money that was. The concert was awful. We bailed early. Don't waste any time or money on the concert. read more

Got free tickets for this event and even then I felt like it wasn't worth it. One pro is that you can visit the queen Mary. But other than that you have to pay extra for all of the tastings and activities. The staff was SUPER unhelpful and parking was a hustler read more

Bought tickets online ($25 each but had a half price code); bought whiskey tasting tickets online ($17 each). Showed up 2.5 hours earlier than the whiskey tasting and sat in our car with hundreds of others waiting to get entry to parking. When we finally got to the clerk at the gate we found out the parking lot was full and the person taking the entry fee said "I don't know anything about your ticket or getting a refund. Do you want the voucher to park at The Aquarium or not?!" It's unfortunate that this event was so oversold and the parking situation wasn't clearly defined in advance. If we had known we would've just parked at the Aquarium in the first place! Instead I'm out $60+ dollars and wasted an afternoon off. We missed our tasting and were then supposed to drive to the Long Beach Aquarium and shuttle back? No. Won't make this mistake again. read more

Long Beach and Queen Mary - take notice! Parking is ABYSMAL! We were routed through the QM lot, just to be told there was no room! Have some electric signage, attendants or cones further away to save folks time and direct them to the parking lots by the Aquarium! No signage at the lots re shuttles back to venue?! Complete confusion on part of parking staff as to where to wait for return shuttle. As for the games themselves, the area for heavy athletics was way too small for them to concurrently run multiple events safely. Caber toss and hammer throw interfered with each other multiple times. I'm surprised someone didn't get his head bashed in by an errant toss/throw. Very few bands participated in competition. Why?? Next year, I'll wait for Costa Mesa! read more

Really disappointed in the event this year. Parking was challenging, no one seemed to realize the parking lot was full when they let us in. We entered the grounds and went to get food, ordered bangers and mash, sorry we're sold out. Ok, how about neeps and tatties, sorry we're sold out, what do you have? Hot dogs and hamburgers :/ Paid an extra $18 for whiskey tasting which we do every year. This time it felt rushed, there wasn't any of the history of whiskey, what is single malt, double malt, etc. it was basically, drink up and move on. The vendors were located in the extremely dark old spruce goose dome which made it difficult to see the merchandise. And to top it off, we weren't allowed to wander around the Queen Mary like years past. I'll skip this one next year. read more

It w as great fun -- everything from the bagpipes to the field games and the harp players. Definitely a lot to do that weekend. We stayed on the Queen Mary and enjoyed two fabulous meals at the ships restaurants. A great weekend get away. Highly recommended. read more

Worst experience, no parking available at the Queen Mary so they redirected you to park at the pike. It was a 2 hour wait for a bus to take you to the festival. Upon leaving was told to walk all the way to the exit for a bus to take you back to your car, waited another hour and a half as I watched 2 busses go by fully loaded, they were allowing people to be picked up at the gate one employee was telling you one thing and another was telling you something else, finally called an Uber to take me back to my car so I could go back and pick up the rest of my family off the side of the road. If I could get our money back I would very poor planing by the event coordinators. read more

If you're looking for a great example of Scottish culture in a comfortable setting, pass on this one and wait for Costa Mesa. The venue becomes more crammed each year, the cost of entry and parking is ridiculous. Re-enactment groups shooting off canons in the afternoon is an incredibly distasteful way to end the day. Lots of great participants trying to give their best under miserable conditions. Parking horror stories this year. Won't be going back. read more

Love love love this event! Granted, I am a sucker for themed festivals (I worked at a Renaissance Festival for 7 years). My group bought the VIP tickets, and I would highly recommend doing this! Front row seats to the Highland Games, 2 free drink tickets, and fast access to booze. There were awesome bag pipe performances, canon demonstrations, and sheep dog herding. Definitely going back every year! read more

I used to go every single year--we turned it into a Valentine's celebration! BUT here's why I won't attend any more (along with a pretty big group of my friends). As ticket prices have gone UP, the size of the festival has gone DOWN. So before you waste your money on higher ticket prices, here's what you should know: It's smaller, parking is disastrous and/or expensive (plan on taking a shuttle bus if you aren't there first thing in the morning), ticket lines are LONG (plan on 30 minutes+ if you're there after 11am), and if you have little ones in a stroller, not only will you have the hassle of a shuttle bus and standing room only, but you also won't be able to get to some parts of the festival unless you can carry a stroller up and down flights of stairs--or just skip that whole section of the festival (which considering the smaller size of the festival, is a pretty big chunk). read more

It's a shame that this awesome event is marred by a nightmarish parking situation and outrageously high entry fee. Two years in a row we drive all the way to the QM only to be forced into a big u-turn back to the Pike to take a crowded shuttle back to the festival! Why don't they at least put a "lot full" sign up at the Queensway entrance? Poor planning and very inconsiderate. read more